P02980.004 Accession Number: P02980.004

Description

Boncourt Par Anet. The house belonging to the Wyatt family, who sheltered 415738 Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) Raymond (Ray) Walter Perry, 466 (Halifax) Squadron, RAAF, after his Halifax aircraft was shot down in the early hours of 7 May 1944. He lived with various French families of the Underground until 1 August 1944, when members of the Maquis (the fighting section of the French Underground) arrived and wanted the house he was staying in. At this point he was told that he, along with Flying Officer Eric Davis and Flt Sgt Frank Salt, would be taken to the south of Paris, where they would be flown back to England on an aircraft bringing in supplies for the Maquis. While being driven through Paris, supposedly by a member of the Underground, they stopped by a building where the driver told the men that they were now prisoners of the Germans and that the building was Gestapo Headquarters. Along with other prisoners, he was taken to Fresnes Prison, where they were de-loused and had all possessions taken from them. On 15 August 1944 all Allied prisoners in Fresnes Prison were transferred to Buchenwald Concentration Camp by truck, train and foot. On 19 October 1944, 156 Allied prisoners, including Flt Sgt Perry, were transferred to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland. On 4 February 1945, Perry was transferred to Marlag and Milag North [Marlag und Milag Nord], a Naval or Merchant Marine personnel POW camp, where he remained until liberated.

Details

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945